Unisys Predicts the Rise of an Even Smarter Warehouse and New Strategic Alliances That Will Transform the Cargo Industry
by 2020
IoT and voice AI enabled smart devices and systems, warehouse drones and strategic alliances between airlines and
distributors will be key to the air freight industry capitalising on the e-commerce market – Venkatesh Pazhyanur, Unisys
WELLINGTON, 10 October 2017 – “The cargo industry needs to embrace disruptive technologies from the consumer world, including Internet of Things
(IoT), digital assistants and drones, to increase efficiency and meet customer expectation for greater transparency
throughout the supply chain,” said Venkatesh Pazhyanur, senior industry director of Freight Solutions for Unisys Corporation (NYSE: UIS).
The Asia Pacific air cargo industry is experiencing growth and transformation driven by rapidly increasing capacity
supply on passenger flights, and the shift to business-to-consumer small parcel shipments as a result of e-commerce.
Growing passenger demand will increase the number of passenger flights and add to cargo capacity supply. The
International Air Transport Association (IATA) expects the number of air passengers globally will almost double between
2016 and 2035, with the greatest growth in Asia Pacific – particularly in China and India1. Simultaneously, the
popularity of e-commerce is changing the nature of cargo shipments, incrementally increasing the number of small parcels
– which is predicted to grow 5 percent annually in mature markets and 17 percent annually in China2.
“At Unisys we predict these market pressures will bring innovation in three areas in the cargo supply chain: smart
warehouses will become even smarter, drones will finally take off in the cargo supply chain – but inside the warehouse,
and new alliances between airlines and global distributors will enable longer term capacity management. Much of the
underlying technologies are already being used in other sectors – including the consumer world. But now, more than ever,
cargo operators will be forced to embrace such innovation to be more efficient, nimble and proactive in an increasingly
competitive and price conscious market,” said Mr Pazhyanur.
Unisys cargo experts believe the following predictions will become reality within the next five years or less:
1.Smart warehouses will become a reality
To meet the growing demand for small parcel deliveries, warehouses will transform from a storage location, to a dynamic
facility using IoT and voice artificial Intelligence (voice AI) enabling faster processing of more shipments to generate
a higher return on the real-estate investment. Just as connected wearable devices such as smartwatches are becoming
mainstream in the consumer world, IoT-based technology will create the “smart warehouse” of the future. Recent
innovations such as smart glasses used to display information triggered by a barcode or QR code on a container3 will be
taken to a new level by incorporating scanners to automatically capture and input information into the warehouse system,
and integrating voice AI to initiate actions. Similar technology is already used in digital assistants such as Siri,
Cortana or Amazon Echo. Unisys expects cargo operators to invest in converting machine commands to voice within the next
three years.
2.Drones will be used inside the warehouse
While drones have become a familiar way to provide TV sports aerial footage, the much-anticipated mainstream rollout of
drones to deliver parcels to the customer’s doorstep is hampered by flight space restrictions, government approvals and
privacy considerations. Unisys predicts the more immediate application of drones in the cargo supply chain will be
within the confined space of warehouses to conduct inventory checks more often and more accurately, replacing the
largely manual process. Beyond locating lost or misplaced items, the drones will use sensors to monitor environmental
information such as light or temperature for perishable food, pharmaceuticals or livestock, and raise alerts to unusual
noise or movement that may indicate animals are in distress. Unisys predicts this within the next 12 months.
3.New alliances between airlines and global distributors will be forged for long term revenue optimisation
With cargo capacity potentially increasing faster than cargo demand due to extra passenger flights and larger aircraft,
cargo capacity management has become the number one challenge for airlines. In this environment of unconstrained
capacity, the traditional approach to yield management will not work as airlines may dump cargo space onto the market,
creating a price war. Unisys predicts a fundamental move to longer-term revenue optimisation based on strategic
alliances between airlines and organisations with large ongoing delivery requirements such as postal authorities, major
online retailers, global distributors and supply chain management companies. This will require airlines to provide their
alliance partners with transparent real-time access to available capacity and predictive analytics to determine best
routes based on speed, reliability and cost. This expectation for visibility will also extend to the “last mile” of the
business-to-consumer cargo supply chain, leading to the development of mobile apps to allow the final recipient to be
able to track the approach of their delivery – similar to how consumers currently track an approaching taxi or Uber.
Visit Unisys at the PayloadAsia 2017 conference on 11-12 October in Singapore.
1 - International Air Transport Association (IATA) 20-Year Air Passenger Forecast.
2 – McKinsey & Company Parcel delivery – the future of the last mile.
3 – SATS media release: SATS Gears Up for the Airports of the Future with Augmented Reality Technology
ENDS
About Unisys
Unisys is a global information technology company that specialises in providing industry-focused solutions integrated
with leading-edge security to clients in the government, financial services and commercial markets. Unisys offerings
include security solutions, advanced data analytics, cloud and infrastructure services, application services and
application and server software. For more information, visit www.unisys.com. Follow Unisys on Twitter and LinkedIn.
About Unisys Asia Pacific
In Asia Pacific, Unisys delivers services and solutions to clients in more than 15 countries across the region. For more
information visit:
Follow us on twitter @UnisysAPAC,
and in China on:
and WeChat Official Account: Unisys China.